Saturday 22 Jan. 2011
Woke up at 9 for coffee, pastry and pear. Ventured over to Cheuca by metro for another barrio walking tour. Chueca is considered one of the most lively and hip neighborhoods -- Lonely Planet calls it "a barrio of over-the-top sexuality and devil-may-care hedonism." I had seen it exploding with people in the night, but I wanted to catch a glimpse of the place in the morning hours too. It was frigid cold with very clear blue skies. I tried to stay on the sunny side of the street, haha. First major building was Sociedad General de Autores y Editores -- a giant modern architectural statement, decadent as a wedding cake. It looks very fluid, sort of like a stick of decorate butter that's been put in the microwave for 20 seconds. I found a delightful little tea shop that had free samples of piping hot chai -- I gladly helped myself! I miss chai haha! Next I came across the Museo de Historia which is closed for renovation but I could still see its very elaborate baroque doorway -- there are many of those here in Madrid, but this is definitely one of the most ornate. Looked around for a clock and noticed that the various buildings, shops, churches and bus stops all displayed very different times. (Funny, I've noticed the same thing in mi case -- there are at least 7 clocks in the room where we eat, and none of them show the correct time! I don't think the Spanish care too much about the exact hora...) Stumbled upon Plaza de Dos de Mayo ("heart of Malasaña") where I heard some street musicians playing -- there were a couple families with little toddlers, bundled up in scarves, dancing to the drumbeat -- quite adorable. Here, in 1808, Madrileños made their final stand, defending the Monteléon barracks against Napoleon's troops (one remaining arch of the barracks is still here). In the 1960s, lots of hippies moved here because rent was cheap, and eventually this area became the center of "La Movida" -- starting around 1975, the new period of personal and artistic liberty that followed the death of Franca. Now, there are lots of vintage shops and cafés and music clubs around here -- all sort of funky and colorful.
Lastly, I came across a beautiful little museum -- Museo de dibujo y ilustración -- in a very modern red and white triangular building. They had a fascinating collection of drawings -- "El Efecto Iceberg"-- mostly magazine covers, from the late 19th century through the 20th century (Blanco y Negro and ABC magazines -- all done by Spanish artists). I loved the progression of the artwork over the decades. Lots of Parisian influence in the early 20th century, and most of the pieces depicted some elegant lady or couple of status. In the 30s emerged very strong communist, soviet and proletariat influences (los manos y los puños = hands and fists), with red scarves, bold block letters and fierce facial expressions. It was a beautifully arranged exhibit -- drawings along the walls and in little "discovery drawers" for people to open. I couldn't find this museum in any of my guidebooks, but I was so glad I stumbled across it!
Returned home for la comida -- my favorite meal so far. Vegetable ratatouille with prawns and salad and creme caramel flan for dessert. Then I headed out for the Reina Sofia, the local temple of modern art. Temperature was about 1 degree celsius, so I bundled up very warmly! The Reina Sofia used to be a hospital and it's enormous -- 4 floors filled to the brim with artwork; they actually recently built an extension because they couldn't fit any more of their collection in the existing building!
Of course I went to see Guernica by Pablo Picasso. The Spanish Republican gov commissioned it in 1937 for the Spanish Pavillion at the Paris World Fair. Picasso thought and pondered, looking for inspiration for his commission for a while until it literally came out of the sky: a mass air attack by Germans (working for the Nationalists) on Gernika in Basque country. Picasso depicts the horrors of the attack in this enormous mural (in the same room, there's also a cool series of photos taken by a girlfriend of Picasso that show him at work). Of course, everyone was crowded into the room to see the painting. I felt sorry for the museum employee whose job it was to police the room and reprimand the dopey tourists who couldn't see the signs (posted everywhere) indicating that photos were not allowed. Interesting note about Guernica, the Basque country actually wants the painting back (insisting that the Basque region is the painting's true home) but the Reina Sofia insists that the painting is too fragile to be moved haha. It already made a transatlantic voyage (the painting was in NYC until 1981 -- Picasso had willed that the painting not be returned to Spain until democracy was re-established). Clearly, the Reina Sofia is not going to give this piece up without a fight. In addition to the actual painting, I really liked all the studies (some drawn, some painted) Picasso made in preparation for the work -- there were some terrible screaming women and horses, their mouths open and gaping, eyes grotesquely enlarged with fear, features falling off faces in true cubist form.
After Guernica, I actually ran into Jessica and Jacquie as they hunted for the Dalí exhibition room. I explored some of the other war-time paintings and photography in the neighboring rooms, then lots of Joan Miró and Juan Gris paintings. Picasso's Woman in Blue made me laugh -- she just looks so frumpy! Apparently Picasso disowned it when it won only honorable mention in some national art competition. I love the Cadaqués paintings by Dalí, they remind me of Orientation trip to the coast. Alfonso Ponce de Léon's Accident is quite disturbing (it's a man lying dead--he hit is head on a rock after tumbling from his car in an accident -- the wound is illuminated by the car lamp) especially since the artist actually died in a car crash later that same year. There were several very dark paintings of religious scenes-- the Spanish explanations I read said something about some artists at the end of the 19th century "searching" for some sort of dark, austere, somber, backwards, medieval Spain in the countryside of the Iberian interior -- aiming to highlight some division between the traditional, boorish, almost medieval, extremely Catholic Spain and the modern, "blanca" optimistic Spain of the cities... curious. I was surprised by how much I really liked the Dalí paintings! Many of them are so huge too -- they're fabulous. I think Girl at the Window has been copied so many times it looks cliché in printbooks and postcards, but the actual painting was beautiful. I also love how some of his paintings have all those weird things going on in every corner--like a little treasure hunt haha, definitely trying to tap into and probe the subconscious I guess?
One of my favorite pieces in the museum collection wasn't a painting at all but a giant metronome (sculplture?) whose pendulum had this weird, enormous eye that looked as if it were open from some angles and closed at others... very cool! It's called "Indestructible Object" and it's by Man Ray.
Probably my favorite floor of the exhibit was the 4th (I almost didn't go bc I had already spent 3 hours in the museum, but then figured I might as well and I'm so glad I did!). It was a huge exposición de arte by Hans-Peter Feldman, a German contemporary artist. Lots of interesting paintings, photos, photocopies, found objects, sculpture... where to begin? There was a pistol-shaped object wrapped in a cute black crocheted cover, a teapot with a cardboard "shadow" at its base. I liked this one montage of images called "1 libra de fresas" (one pound of strawberries) -- it was a photo of 30 odd strawberries, each against a white background. There was also a series of photos of various hands holding personal/family photos -- so each hand was a kind of frame for each photo (makes you wonder whose hand is it? who are they showing the photo to? what is this person's relationship to this photo?...) Another very cool series was 101 photos of 101 different people of 101 different ages (so the first was a baby of 8 weeks, the second a girl age 1, the third a 2-yr-old boy, etc. all the way up to 100!). All of these people were friends of the artist, and together, they chronicled a lifespan! I thought it was a brilliant idea and so funny too how each person, each friend was "representing" an age that they would only be for one year.. I found myself looking for the 20 year old (it was boy who liked like a heavy metalhead... I have to say I was a little disappointed), the 18 year old (for my sisters) and the ages for my parents too -- for each photo, I also found myself subconciously judging, does this person look that age? Do they look older/younger than me/my friends/my sisters/my parents/my parents' friends. I was really shocked by how quickly the faces started to look old -- basically after age 22, everyone just looked old! There were a few anomaly people (one 30-something year old lady looked like a teenager) but for the most part, everyone looked older than I expected (maybe the people in my life are just unusually youthful for their ages? no sé...), and there were some periods of very rapid aging (in the 30s and 50s and 70s mostly). Very interesting look at age though, and made me realize how quickly we get older -- (something I feel myself becoming increasingly aware of now that I'm in my third decade of life ahh!!!) Luckily, those 90-year- olds seemed just as happy (if not happier) as the dozens of faces before them, so clearly aging isn't all that bad hahah... I'd like to see if I could do my own version of this portrait series one day... I wonder which age I would want to be/which age I'd like to represent?
A few other notable pieces: photographs of people except the actual person had been cut out so you only saw their outline. Yet, you could still infer so much about the person simply from the shape of the space they had occupied... Also a dark room with shadow sculptures--made of revolving random household objects and trash (including used pizza boxes) whose shadows were projected against a white wall behind them. Music played and it was like a shadow dance or performance-- I felt as if I were inside a music box, very calming.
After the Reina Sofia, returned home for dinner. Temperatures read -1 degrees celsius ahh!! Watched the noticias with Consuelo and talked about how China will become the master of the world one day, probably sooner rather than later haha... Went out to celebrate Leigh's bday in Plaza de España, botellon-ing in the square like all the Spanish youth. It was frigid outside though so eventually we took cover in the nearby McDonalds before braving the cold to stand out in line for Club SoloHeineken... got in just before 2am so it was free for girls (poor guys had to pay 12 euros each though!) music was a little too much techno so I decided to leave around 3am. Hopped on the Arguelles bus, which took me to Banco de España, asked some bus drivers how to get to Sainz de Baranda and they told me Bus 6, so I took bus 6. Unfortunately, my bus did not go to Sainz de Baranda, it went all the way out southeast to the old Olympic stadium in the outskirts of Madrid! Luckily the bus driver helped me figure out how to get home (I was ready to get the first taxi I saw but there weren't many taxis so far from the city center) but I wasn't in bed until 4:30am!! Ahh, lesson learned, take taxi or study bus routes well in advance.
Sunday 23 Jan. 2011
Took Metro over to Príncipe Pio station this morning to see the Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida. Beautiful fresco ceilings by Goya -- he painted them in just a few (4) months (in 1798), and was pretty much given free range to do what he wanted with them (received a commission from Carlos IV). I loved the dome because, unlike so many of the other domes out there, this dome featured beautiful blue, purple, green mountains surrounding the people (the scene is from the miracle of St. Anthony). To me, it was spiritual and respectful without being overbearingly religious. Furthermore, the mortal Spanish people depicted in the frescos are actually elevated above the cherubs and angels--highly unusual. Despite the fact that the ceiling is very irregular (all kinds of weird nooks and crannies) and Goya completed the painting in such a short time, all the figures in the fresco look exquisitely graceful, and the composition is incredibly balanced. Goya himself is actually buried inside this little church. And according to tradition, young Madrid women visit the church every June 13 to pray for a partner.
Next I took the metro over to Moncloa. When I emerged, I saw sweeping views of the city and also an enormous white arc -- the Arco de la Victoria. It was built in 1956 to celebrate Franco's Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War. (Apparently, Franco would pass by it every time he traveled between his home (Palacio de El Pardo) and the city of Madrid. It's 128 feet tall -- excessively enormous, in my opinion -- and certainly imposing. The cars zooming around it's base look like little toys (which is very dangerous for pedestrians like me who try to cross the street!). Walked over to Museo de América. It's a very grand building with a huge collection of artifacts from Spain's conquests of the Americas (basically, it's all their loot that they feel bad about having stolen, so now it's on display). To the museum's credit though, the exhibits were very well-designed and engaging, and it's clear that the curators are making an earnest effort to respect the native peoples of the Americas. The first few rooms were all about "El Conocimiento de América" -- the knowledge about America. They started off with the records that Columbus and other explorers kept, and went on to demonstrate (with old sketches and diary entries) how the Europeans developed/constructed the lop-sided, xenophobic, disrespecting perspective of the native people (there were pictures of natives that looked half animal, half animal, people who seemed to be cannibals, deformed, barbaric, etc. etc.) Then the rest of the exhibit went on to dispel those myths and stereotypes by showcasing the variety of clothing, tools, artwork of each region of North and South America. There were also rooms with amazing collections of maps (!!) and visuals to show the natural wildlife of America and also the routes that the first inhabitants took across the Bering Strait, and the subsequent migrations south and east. I really liked the hats and capes made out of macaw feathers -- so brilliantly colored! Loved the maps too, of course :)
Afterwards, returned home for lunch and some reading. Then I went over to the Atoche station to visit the Caixa forum -- a very cool building, made of brick, but suspended about 6 ft in the air! It looks like it's hovering above the ground! Also, at the top is a very intricate metal design -- reminds me of something you might find at the beach? Also, on the adjacent wall is a "jardín colgante" -- hanging garden. Basically, imagine a plot of land, covered with plants. Now rotate the ground 90 and you have this garden. Very odd but very cool (it's almost 4 stories high!). Inside the Caixa Forum they have free art exhibits. I went to see one about the friendship between Salvador Dalí and Frederico García Lorca. It was cool to see how their ideas influenced each other and their sketches, their ideas about "pure" art, how they made fun of other artists (hated Monet's work, called anything that was too romantic or kitsch "putrid") and admired others (Cezanne). Often they drew sketches of one another on little scraps of paper -- very funny little things. To them, proportion and number were of the utmost importance in their artwork. One of their greatest compliments would be "there is clarity." Later, Dalí began to drift towards surrealism more than Lorca, and the two grew somewhat apart. After the exhibit, went to the railway station Atocha Renfe (from the 19th century but renovated in 1992) with its beautiful lush botanical garden (the iron and glass exterior make for a perfect greenhouse environment) and mini-expos featuring cool places to visit all over Spain (and the products for which each region is famous). There are more than 500 plant species in the garden, and even a turtle family too! This is also the station where the 2004 terrorist attack took place.
Returned home for la cena -- my favorite Madrid tortilla with salad and an orange -- and then off to bed by 11, still so tired!
Monday 24 Jan. 2011
I learned how to walk from my house to school -- I finally feel oriented!! Plus, I love walking along the "superguay" Calle de Serrano to observe "la gente." My favorite scenes of the day: the stern bankers in the middle of "charlas", the businessmen lunching with cashmere blankets draped oh-so-casually over their shoulders, the old ladies in fur coats that (in comparison) make Cruella DeVille look like an animal rights' activist, and the younger ladies clad in the latest leopard prints and 6" heels. In Madrid, even Monday is an occasion.
Tuesday 25 Jan. 2011 -- "¡Lo aprovecho!"
9am breakfast, caught the metro and read my "20 minutos" like the all the Madrileños to figure out what exactly happened in Moscow yesterday. Arrived in Chueca, all set to go to the contemporary art museum, but it's all in "las obras" -- construction -- and closed until the coming year! ¡Que lástima! Still, I wasn't going to let my beautiful morning and early head start deter me from seizing the day... I had my trusty Lonely Planet map with me and so I walked over to see Palacio de Liria -- an 18th century mansion (rebuilt in 1936 after it was destroyed in the Spanish civil war) representative of the many that used to line this Calle de Princesa. I peered through the iron gates (to join a guided tour, you have to send a formal request to the palace with your personal details, and your request must be reviewed and approved by the Duke and Duchess of Alba before you can gain permission). Next, over to Plaza de España with it's Cervantes statue and curious church with the rainbow copula... Then Templo de Debod -- the very bizarre Egyptian temple right in the middle of downtown Madrid. Apparently, construction of the temple began around 2200 BCE (in Southern Egypt). It was saved from flooding by a big dam that was built with the help of Spanish engineers. In 1968, Egypt demonstrated its thanks by sending the temple to Madrid so here it is! I walked inside to see the engravings and such (mostly about the god Amen) but what struck me most was that the pond surrounding the building was frozen over with a thick layer of ice (and it was already 11am -- the sun was high in the sky!) Afterwards, strolled through the Palacio Real gardens (that Palace is enormous and ornate--I find it hilarious that the present day Spanish king prefers to live in a different palace, somewhere a little more private and a little less in-your-face).
Took a walk through the Church of San Ginés, one of Madrid's oldest churches (there's been one here ever since the 14th century). I took careful note of each of the Virgin Mary representations haha... there were a lot! They I had Charlas at school with one of the Spanish girls. She told a dreadful story about the time she and her friends went to Paris in March and didn't have a hotel and got stranded at a bus station and ended up sleeping in the street like homeless people with all their luggage! Yikes. Walked home afterwards and discovered a very intriguing Casa Árabe that I hope to explore soon... Comida: broccoli with potatoes and paprika, bread, fish and an orange. Then walked back to school, passing by the Biblioteca Nacional. Learned that today is the first day of the Gastronomy festival Madrid Fusión, so the library has a cool little expo about culinary history! They had a collection of paintings and drawings and prints about the role of food and food vendors and cooking and table manners over the past centuries. They gave visitors copies of the first recipes ever known to be recorded (some type of tortilla!) from the 14th century. They discussed how the most dramatic change in Spanish cuisine happened when Christopher Columbus brought potatoes and tomatoes and peppers from the New World (the historian in the film spoke in terms of colors: pre-Columbus, the Spanish diet was much more brown and green, after Columbus's voyage, Spain ate a lot more red things!). Apparently, potatoes were originally used as decoration though.. There were also large sections in the exhibit devoted to chocolate, the use of foods as medicine, the idea of the woman in the kitchen, etc. I liked looking at the cook books by the contemporary Spanish chefs -- Ferran Adriá's book was open to a page about a dessert which featured green apples. The apples had to be cut precisely into cubes (12 per person) and each cube was garnished with one spice (mint or saffron or pepper or cinnamon). Then the 12 apple pieces with their spices had to be arranged in a circle like numbers on a clock -- all I remember was that the mint leaf-apple combo had the spot of the 12. Very curious indeed. It was a fun little exhibit though! Apparently, the museums in Madrid are also giving guided tours about the role of food in artwork over the next few days...
From 5:30 to 7 I had Spanish. Our task today was to be detectives to figure out what happened in a whodunnit-type story about a man found dead in his bed. It was very bizarre -- the answer ended up being something like the guy worked for a circus and was the shortest man in the world. One day he measured himself, was taller than he thought and died of fright? Very odd, but fun haha. Walked home, stopping by the Biblioteca again. Then la cena: pepper-tomato-egg soup, omelette, salad and flan. Las noticias weren't functioning properly -- somehow the TV remotes always get screwed up and it always takes a few minutes to find "la Una" (public news channel) but today, the inputs or the satellite just wouldn't work.
However, Conseulo and I had our best dinner conversation yet! I mentioned the gastronomy exhibit I had gone to, and Consuelo spoke her mind about what she thinks of those chefs! She informed me that what they cook in those expensive restaurants is not real Spanish food -- real Spanish food is what you find in the streets. She joked that if Ferran Adria served "kaka" and decorated it with flowers, people would eat it and say it was delicious -- I had to laugh so hard -- her facial expressions as she tells these stories are incredible! She also told me about how she refused some sort of champagne that had gold in it, explaining that gold is a metal, why would I want to eat that? My favorite story was about how she went to this upscale restaurant with some friends or relatives of her -- it was a restaurant with a well-known chef, and the appetizer was fried potato skins (cáscaras de las patatas). Consuelo was clearly not impressed! Her friends, she said, urged her to eat them because they were delicious and made by this famous chef, but Consuelo assured me she was not fooled and she stood her ground. She said, give me a shrimp or a tomato, but don't give me the dirty cáscaras -- that's not food! Everyone else in the world throws that part of the potato away, why would I eat that? Next we somehow got onto the topic of plastic surgery. Consuelo started telling me about a program she saw as she was trying to fall asleep. Apparently, the lady in the program had big huge puffy lips and enormous breast implants. Consuelo was legit frightened by the sight of this lady on TV. She asked me (after fully describing this lady to me), if you were a man, and that was your girlfriend, wouldn't you be afraid to touch her?? Wouldn't you be afraid that when you kissed her, her lips would explode or when you touched her, she would "encender" (ignite) spontaneously?? I laughed so hard there were tears streaming down my face. Of course, as Consuelo and I walked back to the kitchen with our plates, we lament in Spanish, "what are we going to do? we'll have to see, what can we do? People these days... are we just crazy? I don't understand, I just don't get it. Me neither." Pues. Excellent day overall. ¡Hasta mañana!
Woke up at 9 for coffee, pastry and pear. Ventured over to Cheuca by metro for another barrio walking tour. Chueca is considered one of the most lively and hip neighborhoods -- Lonely Planet calls it "a barrio of over-the-top sexuality and devil-may-care hedonism." I had seen it exploding with people in the night, but I wanted to catch a glimpse of the place in the morning hours too. It was frigid cold with very clear blue skies. I tried to stay on the sunny side of the street, haha. First major building was Sociedad General de Autores y Editores -- a giant modern architectural statement, decadent as a wedding cake. It looks very fluid, sort of like a stick of decorate butter that's been put in the microwave for 20 seconds. I found a delightful little tea shop that had free samples of piping hot chai -- I gladly helped myself! I miss chai haha! Next I came across the Museo de Historia which is closed for renovation but I could still see its very elaborate baroque doorway -- there are many of those here in Madrid, but this is definitely one of the most ornate. Looked around for a clock and noticed that the various buildings, shops, churches and bus stops all displayed very different times. (Funny, I've noticed the same thing in mi case -- there are at least 7 clocks in the room where we eat, and none of them show the correct time! I don't think the Spanish care too much about the exact hora...) Stumbled upon Plaza de Dos de Mayo ("heart of Malasaña") where I heard some street musicians playing -- there were a couple families with little toddlers, bundled up in scarves, dancing to the drumbeat -- quite adorable. Here, in 1808, Madrileños made their final stand, defending the Monteléon barracks against Napoleon's troops (one remaining arch of the barracks is still here). In the 1960s, lots of hippies moved here because rent was cheap, and eventually this area became the center of "La Movida" -- starting around 1975, the new period of personal and artistic liberty that followed the death of Franca. Now, there are lots of vintage shops and cafés and music clubs around here -- all sort of funky and colorful.
Lastly, I came across a beautiful little museum -- Museo de dibujo y ilustración -- in a very modern red and white triangular building. They had a fascinating collection of drawings -- "El Efecto Iceberg"-- mostly magazine covers, from the late 19th century through the 20th century (Blanco y Negro and ABC magazines -- all done by Spanish artists). I loved the progression of the artwork over the decades. Lots of Parisian influence in the early 20th century, and most of the pieces depicted some elegant lady or couple of status. In the 30s emerged very strong communist, soviet and proletariat influences (los manos y los puños = hands and fists), with red scarves, bold block letters and fierce facial expressions. It was a beautifully arranged exhibit -- drawings along the walls and in little "discovery drawers" for people to open. I couldn't find this museum in any of my guidebooks, but I was so glad I stumbled across it!
Returned home for la comida -- my favorite meal so far. Vegetable ratatouille with prawns and salad and creme caramel flan for dessert. Then I headed out for the Reina Sofia, the local temple of modern art. Temperature was about 1 degree celsius, so I bundled up very warmly! The Reina Sofia used to be a hospital and it's enormous -- 4 floors filled to the brim with artwork; they actually recently built an extension because they couldn't fit any more of their collection in the existing building!
Of course I went to see Guernica by Pablo Picasso. The Spanish Republican gov commissioned it in 1937 for the Spanish Pavillion at the Paris World Fair. Picasso thought and pondered, looking for inspiration for his commission for a while until it literally came out of the sky: a mass air attack by Germans (working for the Nationalists) on Gernika in Basque country. Picasso depicts the horrors of the attack in this enormous mural (in the same room, there's also a cool series of photos taken by a girlfriend of Picasso that show him at work). Of course, everyone was crowded into the room to see the painting. I felt sorry for the museum employee whose job it was to police the room and reprimand the dopey tourists who couldn't see the signs (posted everywhere) indicating that photos were not allowed. Interesting note about Guernica, the Basque country actually wants the painting back (insisting that the Basque region is the painting's true home) but the Reina Sofia insists that the painting is too fragile to be moved haha. It already made a transatlantic voyage (the painting was in NYC until 1981 -- Picasso had willed that the painting not be returned to Spain until democracy was re-established). Clearly, the Reina Sofia is not going to give this piece up without a fight. In addition to the actual painting, I really liked all the studies (some drawn, some painted) Picasso made in preparation for the work -- there were some terrible screaming women and horses, their mouths open and gaping, eyes grotesquely enlarged with fear, features falling off faces in true cubist form.
After Guernica, I actually ran into Jessica and Jacquie as they hunted for the Dalí exhibition room. I explored some of the other war-time paintings and photography in the neighboring rooms, then lots of Joan Miró and Juan Gris paintings. Picasso's Woman in Blue made me laugh -- she just looks so frumpy! Apparently Picasso disowned it when it won only honorable mention in some national art competition. I love the Cadaqués paintings by Dalí, they remind me of Orientation trip to the coast. Alfonso Ponce de Léon's Accident is quite disturbing (it's a man lying dead--he hit is head on a rock after tumbling from his car in an accident -- the wound is illuminated by the car lamp) especially since the artist actually died in a car crash later that same year. There were several very dark paintings of religious scenes-- the Spanish explanations I read said something about some artists at the end of the 19th century "searching" for some sort of dark, austere, somber, backwards, medieval Spain in the countryside of the Iberian interior -- aiming to highlight some division between the traditional, boorish, almost medieval, extremely Catholic Spain and the modern, "blanca" optimistic Spain of the cities... curious. I was surprised by how much I really liked the Dalí paintings! Many of them are so huge too -- they're fabulous. I think Girl at the Window has been copied so many times it looks cliché in printbooks and postcards, but the actual painting was beautiful. I also love how some of his paintings have all those weird things going on in every corner--like a little treasure hunt haha, definitely trying to tap into and probe the subconscious I guess?
One of my favorite pieces in the museum collection wasn't a painting at all but a giant metronome (sculplture?) whose pendulum had this weird, enormous eye that looked as if it were open from some angles and closed at others... very cool! It's called "Indestructible Object" and it's by Man Ray.
Probably my favorite floor of the exhibit was the 4th (I almost didn't go bc I had already spent 3 hours in the museum, but then figured I might as well and I'm so glad I did!). It was a huge exposición de arte by Hans-Peter Feldman, a German contemporary artist. Lots of interesting paintings, photos, photocopies, found objects, sculpture... where to begin? There was a pistol-shaped object wrapped in a cute black crocheted cover, a teapot with a cardboard "shadow" at its base. I liked this one montage of images called "1 libra de fresas" (one pound of strawberries) -- it was a photo of 30 odd strawberries, each against a white background. There was also a series of photos of various hands holding personal/family photos -- so each hand was a kind of frame for each photo (makes you wonder whose hand is it? who are they showing the photo to? what is this person's relationship to this photo?...) Another very cool series was 101 photos of 101 different people of 101 different ages (so the first was a baby of 8 weeks, the second a girl age 1, the third a 2-yr-old boy, etc. all the way up to 100!). All of these people were friends of the artist, and together, they chronicled a lifespan! I thought it was a brilliant idea and so funny too how each person, each friend was "representing" an age that they would only be for one year.. I found myself looking for the 20 year old (it was boy who liked like a heavy metalhead... I have to say I was a little disappointed), the 18 year old (for my sisters) and the ages for my parents too -- for each photo, I also found myself subconciously judging, does this person look that age? Do they look older/younger than me/my friends/my sisters/my parents/my parents' friends. I was really shocked by how quickly the faces started to look old -- basically after age 22, everyone just looked old! There were a few anomaly people (one 30-something year old lady looked like a teenager) but for the most part, everyone looked older than I expected (maybe the people in my life are just unusually youthful for their ages? no sé...), and there were some periods of very rapid aging (in the 30s and 50s and 70s mostly). Very interesting look at age though, and made me realize how quickly we get older -- (something I feel myself becoming increasingly aware of now that I'm in my third decade of life ahh!!!) Luckily, those 90-year- olds seemed just as happy (if not happier) as the dozens of faces before them, so clearly aging isn't all that bad hahah... I'd like to see if I could do my own version of this portrait series one day... I wonder which age I would want to be/which age I'd like to represent?
A few other notable pieces: photographs of people except the actual person had been cut out so you only saw their outline. Yet, you could still infer so much about the person simply from the shape of the space they had occupied... Also a dark room with shadow sculptures--made of revolving random household objects and trash (including used pizza boxes) whose shadows were projected against a white wall behind them. Music played and it was like a shadow dance or performance-- I felt as if I were inside a music box, very calming.
After the Reina Sofia, returned home for dinner. Temperatures read -1 degrees celsius ahh!! Watched the noticias with Consuelo and talked about how China will become the master of the world one day, probably sooner rather than later haha... Went out to celebrate Leigh's bday in Plaza de España, botellon-ing in the square like all the Spanish youth. It was frigid outside though so eventually we took cover in the nearby McDonalds before braving the cold to stand out in line for Club SoloHeineken... got in just before 2am so it was free for girls (poor guys had to pay 12 euros each though!) music was a little too much techno so I decided to leave around 3am. Hopped on the Arguelles bus, which took me to Banco de España, asked some bus drivers how to get to Sainz de Baranda and they told me Bus 6, so I took bus 6. Unfortunately, my bus did not go to Sainz de Baranda, it went all the way out southeast to the old Olympic stadium in the outskirts of Madrid! Luckily the bus driver helped me figure out how to get home (I was ready to get the first taxi I saw but there weren't many taxis so far from the city center) but I wasn't in bed until 4:30am!! Ahh, lesson learned, take taxi or study bus routes well in advance.
Sunday 23 Jan. 2011
Took Metro over to Príncipe Pio station this morning to see the Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida. Beautiful fresco ceilings by Goya -- he painted them in just a few (4) months (in 1798), and was pretty much given free range to do what he wanted with them (received a commission from Carlos IV). I loved the dome because, unlike so many of the other domes out there, this dome featured beautiful blue, purple, green mountains surrounding the people (the scene is from the miracle of St. Anthony). To me, it was spiritual and respectful without being overbearingly religious. Furthermore, the mortal Spanish people depicted in the frescos are actually elevated above the cherubs and angels--highly unusual. Despite the fact that the ceiling is very irregular (all kinds of weird nooks and crannies) and Goya completed the painting in such a short time, all the figures in the fresco look exquisitely graceful, and the composition is incredibly balanced. Goya himself is actually buried inside this little church. And according to tradition, young Madrid women visit the church every June 13 to pray for a partner.
Next I took the metro over to Moncloa. When I emerged, I saw sweeping views of the city and also an enormous white arc -- the Arco de la Victoria. It was built in 1956 to celebrate Franco's Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War. (Apparently, Franco would pass by it every time he traveled between his home (Palacio de El Pardo) and the city of Madrid. It's 128 feet tall -- excessively enormous, in my opinion -- and certainly imposing. The cars zooming around it's base look like little toys (which is very dangerous for pedestrians like me who try to cross the street!). Walked over to Museo de América. It's a very grand building with a huge collection of artifacts from Spain's conquests of the Americas (basically, it's all their loot that they feel bad about having stolen, so now it's on display). To the museum's credit though, the exhibits were very well-designed and engaging, and it's clear that the curators are making an earnest effort to respect the native peoples of the Americas. The first few rooms were all about "El Conocimiento de América" -- the knowledge about America. They started off with the records that Columbus and other explorers kept, and went on to demonstrate (with old sketches and diary entries) how the Europeans developed/constructed the lop-sided, xenophobic, disrespecting perspective of the native people (there were pictures of natives that looked half animal, half animal, people who seemed to be cannibals, deformed, barbaric, etc. etc.) Then the rest of the exhibit went on to dispel those myths and stereotypes by showcasing the variety of clothing, tools, artwork of each region of North and South America. There were also rooms with amazing collections of maps (!!) and visuals to show the natural wildlife of America and also the routes that the first inhabitants took across the Bering Strait, and the subsequent migrations south and east. I really liked the hats and capes made out of macaw feathers -- so brilliantly colored! Loved the maps too, of course :)
Afterwards, returned home for lunch and some reading. Then I went over to the Atoche station to visit the Caixa forum -- a very cool building, made of brick, but suspended about 6 ft in the air! It looks like it's hovering above the ground! Also, at the top is a very intricate metal design -- reminds me of something you might find at the beach? Also, on the adjacent wall is a "jardín colgante" -- hanging garden. Basically, imagine a plot of land, covered with plants. Now rotate the ground 90 and you have this garden. Very odd but very cool (it's almost 4 stories high!). Inside the Caixa Forum they have free art exhibits. I went to see one about the friendship between Salvador Dalí and Frederico García Lorca. It was cool to see how their ideas influenced each other and their sketches, their ideas about "pure" art, how they made fun of other artists (hated Monet's work, called anything that was too romantic or kitsch "putrid") and admired others (Cezanne). Often they drew sketches of one another on little scraps of paper -- very funny little things. To them, proportion and number were of the utmost importance in their artwork. One of their greatest compliments would be "there is clarity." Later, Dalí began to drift towards surrealism more than Lorca, and the two grew somewhat apart. After the exhibit, went to the railway station Atocha Renfe (from the 19th century but renovated in 1992) with its beautiful lush botanical garden (the iron and glass exterior make for a perfect greenhouse environment) and mini-expos featuring cool places to visit all over Spain (and the products for which each region is famous). There are more than 500 plant species in the garden, and even a turtle family too! This is also the station where the 2004 terrorist attack took place.
Returned home for la cena -- my favorite Madrid tortilla with salad and an orange -- and then off to bed by 11, still so tired!
Monday 24 Jan. 2011
I learned how to walk from my house to school -- I finally feel oriented!! Plus, I love walking along the "superguay" Calle de Serrano to observe "la gente." My favorite scenes of the day: the stern bankers in the middle of "charlas", the businessmen lunching with cashmere blankets draped oh-so-casually over their shoulders, the old ladies in fur coats that (in comparison) make Cruella DeVille look like an animal rights' activist, and the younger ladies clad in the latest leopard prints and 6" heels. In Madrid, even Monday is an occasion.
Tuesday 25 Jan. 2011 -- "¡Lo aprovecho!"
9am breakfast, caught the metro and read my "20 minutos" like the all the Madrileños to figure out what exactly happened in Moscow yesterday. Arrived in Chueca, all set to go to the contemporary art museum, but it's all in "las obras" -- construction -- and closed until the coming year! ¡Que lástima! Still, I wasn't going to let my beautiful morning and early head start deter me from seizing the day... I had my trusty Lonely Planet map with me and so I walked over to see Palacio de Liria -- an 18th century mansion (rebuilt in 1936 after it was destroyed in the Spanish civil war) representative of the many that used to line this Calle de Princesa. I peered through the iron gates (to join a guided tour, you have to send a formal request to the palace with your personal details, and your request must be reviewed and approved by the Duke and Duchess of Alba before you can gain permission). Next, over to Plaza de España with it's Cervantes statue and curious church with the rainbow copula... Then Templo de Debod -- the very bizarre Egyptian temple right in the middle of downtown Madrid. Apparently, construction of the temple began around 2200 BCE (in Southern Egypt). It was saved from flooding by a big dam that was built with the help of Spanish engineers. In 1968, Egypt demonstrated its thanks by sending the temple to Madrid so here it is! I walked inside to see the engravings and such (mostly about the god Amen) but what struck me most was that the pond surrounding the building was frozen over with a thick layer of ice (and it was already 11am -- the sun was high in the sky!) Afterwards, strolled through the Palacio Real gardens (that Palace is enormous and ornate--I find it hilarious that the present day Spanish king prefers to live in a different palace, somewhere a little more private and a little less in-your-face).
Took a walk through the Church of San Ginés, one of Madrid's oldest churches (there's been one here ever since the 14th century). I took careful note of each of the Virgin Mary representations haha... there were a lot! They I had Charlas at school with one of the Spanish girls. She told a dreadful story about the time she and her friends went to Paris in March and didn't have a hotel and got stranded at a bus station and ended up sleeping in the street like homeless people with all their luggage! Yikes. Walked home afterwards and discovered a very intriguing Casa Árabe that I hope to explore soon... Comida: broccoli with potatoes and paprika, bread, fish and an orange. Then walked back to school, passing by the Biblioteca Nacional. Learned that today is the first day of the Gastronomy festival Madrid Fusión, so the library has a cool little expo about culinary history! They had a collection of paintings and drawings and prints about the role of food and food vendors and cooking and table manners over the past centuries. They gave visitors copies of the first recipes ever known to be recorded (some type of tortilla!) from the 14th century. They discussed how the most dramatic change in Spanish cuisine happened when Christopher Columbus brought potatoes and tomatoes and peppers from the New World (the historian in the film spoke in terms of colors: pre-Columbus, the Spanish diet was much more brown and green, after Columbus's voyage, Spain ate a lot more red things!). Apparently, potatoes were originally used as decoration though.. There were also large sections in the exhibit devoted to chocolate, the use of foods as medicine, the idea of the woman in the kitchen, etc. I liked looking at the cook books by the contemporary Spanish chefs -- Ferran Adriá's book was open to a page about a dessert which featured green apples. The apples had to be cut precisely into cubes (12 per person) and each cube was garnished with one spice (mint or saffron or pepper or cinnamon). Then the 12 apple pieces with their spices had to be arranged in a circle like numbers on a clock -- all I remember was that the mint leaf-apple combo had the spot of the 12. Very curious indeed. It was a fun little exhibit though! Apparently, the museums in Madrid are also giving guided tours about the role of food in artwork over the next few days...
From 5:30 to 7 I had Spanish. Our task today was to be detectives to figure out what happened in a whodunnit-type story about a man found dead in his bed. It was very bizarre -- the answer ended up being something like the guy worked for a circus and was the shortest man in the world. One day he measured himself, was taller than he thought and died of fright? Very odd, but fun haha. Walked home, stopping by the Biblioteca again. Then la cena: pepper-tomato-egg soup, omelette, salad and flan. Las noticias weren't functioning properly -- somehow the TV remotes always get screwed up and it always takes a few minutes to find "la Una" (public news channel) but today, the inputs or the satellite just wouldn't work.
However, Conseulo and I had our best dinner conversation yet! I mentioned the gastronomy exhibit I had gone to, and Consuelo spoke her mind about what she thinks of those chefs! She informed me that what they cook in those expensive restaurants is not real Spanish food -- real Spanish food is what you find in the streets. She joked that if Ferran Adria served "kaka" and decorated it with flowers, people would eat it and say it was delicious -- I had to laugh so hard -- her facial expressions as she tells these stories are incredible! She also told me about how she refused some sort of champagne that had gold in it, explaining that gold is a metal, why would I want to eat that? My favorite story was about how she went to this upscale restaurant with some friends or relatives of her -- it was a restaurant with a well-known chef, and the appetizer was fried potato skins (cáscaras de las patatas). Consuelo was clearly not impressed! Her friends, she said, urged her to eat them because they were delicious and made by this famous chef, but Consuelo assured me she was not fooled and she stood her ground. She said, give me a shrimp or a tomato, but don't give me the dirty cáscaras -- that's not food! Everyone else in the world throws that part of the potato away, why would I eat that? Next we somehow got onto the topic of plastic surgery. Consuelo started telling me about a program she saw as she was trying to fall asleep. Apparently, the lady in the program had big huge puffy lips and enormous breast implants. Consuelo was legit frightened by the sight of this lady on TV. She asked me (after fully describing this lady to me), if you were a man, and that was your girlfriend, wouldn't you be afraid to touch her?? Wouldn't you be afraid that when you kissed her, her lips would explode or when you touched her, she would "encender" (ignite) spontaneously?? I laughed so hard there were tears streaming down my face. Of course, as Consuelo and I walked back to the kitchen with our plates, we lament in Spanish, "what are we going to do? we'll have to see, what can we do? People these days... are we just crazy? I don't understand, I just don't get it. Me neither." Pues. Excellent day overall. ¡Hasta mañana!
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